Supplies for DIY Recipes

People often ask me about purchasing supplies for making recipes with essential oils. Here are the primary ones I keep on hand. I like aloe vera gel, aloe vera liquid, witch hazel, and castile soap. My favorite brands are below in the photo.

Many of these products can be found at a grocery store, which is where I get the castile soap for the cheapest price. For the other products, I prefer Sprouts. Target and Whole Foods have them too.

For household cleaning recipes, the popular supplies are castile soap, white vinegar, and baking soda. I am not quite as picky about the brands for these products. I still use Dr. Bonner's castile soap, but I usually go with the almond scented one. It mixes well with essential oils to create an amazing aroma.

Toxins in Beauty Products

One of the pathways to a healthier lifestyle is reducing your toxic loads. Sadly, beauty products are quite harmful, especially in the US where safety laws are far behind those of Europe. I recently read that the average American woman absorbs about 5 lbs of toxins every year from beauty products. That is a lot for our bodies to handle. It is important to educate yourself and then look for ways to reduce your toxic loads.Every little step in the right direction is a good one.

I found this short video highlights some of the issues:

Recipes for Facial Cleanser and Facial Toner

It is my 43rd birthday today and as a special treat I have decided to share my own recipes for facial cleanser and facial toner. I have been using them for a while and like them better than any commercial products I have bought for the same purpose.

Last Summer, I came up with the toner recipe. I ran out of the toner that I usually use and realized that it would probably be easy to just make my own. I keep a lot of the ingredients on hand, so it was just an easy experiment. I have read on different websites that people use apple cider vinegar or witch hazel when they want a natural toner. I have tried both of those and haven't been impressed. The scent of the apple cider vinegar turns me off. The witch hazel, by itself, isn't impressive. Witch hazel is a great ingredient for recipes with essential oils because it keeps the oils from separating. I thought about ingredients that are great for skin and aloe vera was at the top of my list. I chose the gel for this one because it is thicker and adds a velvety feel.

I used my old 4 oz toner bottle (no need to invest in a nice bottle for an experiment). I filled 1/2 of the bottle with aloe vera gel and the other half with witch hazel. The next step was to pick out oils. I happen to know which ones are great for skin. I chose 4 of the oils for my experiment:

Frankincense Essential Oil: known for supporting skin regeneration, which is great for wound healing and wrinkles as well as scars and stretch marks.

Geranium Essential Oil: often used topically to help with tissue regeneration, which aids with cuts and wounds. It also helps to balance oil for skin and scalp issues and can be used as a moisturizer.

Lavender Essential Oil: can be used to soothe and promote skin healing for sunburns, burns, scars, cuts, wounds, and blisters.

Melaleuca Essential Oil: known for being a great oil to support the body when dealing with cuts, wounds, skin conditions, and more.

Several months later, when my facial cleanser ran out, I felt confident that I could make a better one of these too. I knew exactly what ingredients I wanted to use.

For the cleanser, I used a foaming pump bottle. I added unscented castile soap, aloe vera liquid (the gel is nice, but clogs the pump), witch hazel (keeps it mixed), and vitamin E oil. I used the same oils, but added an additional one.

Cypress Essential Oil: this is good for promoting circulation. 

At this point, I knew that I was happy with the recipes, so I decided to invest a little money into the bottles and even make labels, which I am sharing with you for free too. You can save them and upload them to Moo.com to have them printed with a professional vinyl coating. (check out all of the free labels on our blog here: Labels).

Here is how they turned out: